Cholov Ha-Companies

by Arlene J. Mathes-Scharf

There was a talk at the AKO Meeting in November and an ad in the
Hamodia Newspaper recently which states that people cannot trust that
only cow's milk is being sold in the United States, because the
testing agencies do not test for anything other than bovine milk. This
is a scurrilous argument.
The Code of Federal Regulation requires that
all milk in the US be of bovine origin as per 21 Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR), section 131.10. “Milk is the lacteal secretion,
practically free from colostrum, obtained by the complete milking of
one or more healthy cows.” The
large dairy farms in the US are set up to handle only cattle and the
highly mechanized equipment is designed only for cows. A report to
Congress in 2009 talks about the consolidation of the dairy industry
in the United States, with fewer large farms producing more
milk. Thus, 47% of US milk was produced on farms with 1,000 head or
more. The
dairy processors who are buying and bottling milk from farms, and the
state government as well, have an interest in being sure the milk is
cow’s milk only.

Other milk such as goat's milk that is sold
must be labeled as such and commands a significantly higher price in
the marketplace. “If you see “milk” being sold, this refers to cow’s
milk, based on the standard of identity for “milk”. When milk from
other mammals is sold, the term “milk” cannot be used alone – it must
be qualified by including the animal (“goat’s milk”, “sheep’s milk”,
etc.).

In fact, there are standards of identity for products
made from the milk of other mammals (goats, sheep, and water buffalo),
like cheeses (21 CFR 133) and ice cream (21 CFR 135).
The secular concern is that cow’s milk would be used to dilute these
other milks.

The presentation at the AKO meeting and the ad in
the Hamodia raise concern that there may be non-bovine milk in the
general milk supply even if it is illegal, without presenting any actual
evidence of such an occurrence being documented in the US in many
years. There are approximately 9 million dairy cattle in the United
States. A website promoting camel's milk, which is not yet legal to
sell in the United States, says that there are 5,000 camels in the
entire United States (half are male animals). If camels’ milk would
be allowed to be sold, it would still be labeled as to its origin and
would command a premium price. A search for the term “horse milk”
stated that: “Horse Milk - A rare and precious commodity”. Anyone selling this
difficult to obtain product would want to get a premium price. A
search for the term “pig's milk” on-line indicated that it is
economically and physically nonviable
and if
available, it would be very expensive
.

Consumers in the United States can be assured that general milk
(“cholov ha-companies”) is of bovine origin. Testing as to species is
not done, because there is no need. This information should not
necessarily be extended to dairy products from other countries,
although most Western countries have laws of equivalent stringency and
the economics favor selling non-cows milk for premium prices.